


00:00:00

by whitedandelions



Category: Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Pining, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Unrequited Love, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-08 02:26:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12854751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitedandelions/pseuds/whitedandelions
Summary: Her timer goes off right when she meets Ella for the first time.  Ella’s doesn’t.





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**Author's Note:**

  * For [DreamingTheMelody](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamingTheMelody/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Betaed by elegantstupidity on ao3. Thank you so much for taking your time to look over it and give me really good edits :).

Areida gets her timer when she’s thirteen.

She hadn’t expected to receive one.  None of her siblings did. 

It’s red and large and located on her inner wrist, and Areida falls asleep to the comfortable feeling of its numbers going down.

It comforts her when she’s told she’s going to finishing school. 

Most people don’t have timers there.  Those with money usually choose to do away with it.  Being linked to a person most likely ends badly for rich people; they want their children to marry up, not down, and it is too risky to have soulmates when arranged marriages are still in practice. It's easy to do so.  If someone wants to get rid of their timer, all they must do is cross it out with a special ink and within a week, the timer will disappear. 

There is another reason people got rid of them; the garish red and blocky numbers are unattractive.

But Areida loves her timer.  And she only has to wait a little bit more to meet them. 

When it clicks to a zero, it makes a soft beeping noise and her wrist itches awfully in case she hadn’t noticed.  (She has, Areida hasn’t looked away from her timer ever since it hit an hour.)

Three girls.  But Areida doesn’t spare a glance for the other two; her eyes are instantly drawn to the taller, prettier one.  Her hair’s limp and her gown is stained, but Areida knows it has to be her. 

They meet eyes.  Areida’s heart beats uncomfortably fast.  She smiles hesitantly, and the girl’s face softens. Uncharacteristically, Areida winks, and she flushes when she looks back down at her work.  But this is her soulmate; no matter how embarrassing she is, Areida knows they’ll still fall in love.

She’s lost contemplating how strange her life has become—her soulmate is a girl!—when Sewing Mistress interrupts the quiet of the room. 

Her soulmate’s cheeks are bright red after Sewing Mistress calls out her mistakes to the whole class.  Areida feels sorry for her.  She takes a deep breath to steel her nerves and pulls up a chair.  She points out what the girl has done wrong and then bends over the gown in her lap, finishing a tiny stitch as an example.

Her stomach jumps when her soulmate smiles at her and speaks.

Her soulmate knows _Ayorthaian._

Areida asks her if she’s from Ayortha, even though none of her looks it. 

The disappointment must show on her face, because her soulmate offers to learn.  Areida takes her up on it.  By the end of the lesson, she’s ecstatic since her soulmate seems to have a knack for languages.  It won’t be long before they can converse fluently in it. 

Days pass a lot quicker with Ella.

Sometimes, the air is tense.  Areida pauses sometimes, wondering if she should just tell Ella they are meant to be.  She wonders why Ella doesn’t say anything either, if Ella had noticed that her timer hit zero.

It’s the middle of the night when she realizes why Ella doesn’t say anything.

Timers are always on the inner wrists.  Ella’s wrists are bare.  She must have gotten rid of her timer long ago.

Areida doesn’t know why she had expected anything different.  Of course her soulmate would be one of the people who don’t believe in it.  Who would rather marry for money than for love.

But she keeps the disappointment to herself.  Ella’s only fifteen; maybe her parents had gotten rid of the timer for her. If they fall in love naturally, then Areida can tell her.

Ella tells her about her Mother.  Areida sings a mourning song for her, and Ella cries.  While Areida watches for Ella’s nose to return to its natural color, she thinks she’s in love.

Then Ella leaves.  At first, Areida thinks she must have done something wrong.  Maybe her feelings had shown on her face the day before and it made Ella uncomfortable.  But as time passes, the hurt fades, and Areida knows that it’s better this way.  Maybe when the other half gets rid of their timer, it ceases to mean anything anymore. 

Areida tries her best to forget about Ella.  It doesn’t work.

Instead, she goes home after finishing school and tries to help her family with the inn.  She doesn’t tell anyone about the zeros on her timer, and her family doesn’t ask.  She’s grateful, knowing that most of them must wonder but refrain from asking to spare her pain.

She has almost buried her feelings deep in her chest when the prince visits.  She remembers how Ella had talked of him, how her eyes had been fond and her smile wistful, and she knows they’re close.  He insinuates that Ella had _married_ for riches, and although her stomach curls with pain, she can’t help defending her soulmate, knowing that Ella would never.

He’s silent for the rest of the night.

Areida thinks that perhaps the prince also has feelings for Ella.  His wrists are bare.

She’s proven right a few months later.  She gets the invitation in the mail and stares for hours at it after reading it for the first time.  She’s numb, but she can’t cry, not when she has chores to finish.  So she scrubs the pots, greets paying customers with fake smiles, and retreats to her bedroom at the end of the day.  Only then does she cry and barely refrain from ripping the letter up, knowing she’ll need it to attend a prince’s wedding.

She focuses on that detail.  Ella’s going to marry the prince.  She’ll be the princess, a station befitting Ella.  She’ll do a lot of good for the world.  Areida knows this.

It still feels like her heart is broken.  Nonetheless, she grits her teeth and presses through it.  She has known for a long time that her love would most likely end up hopeless, and it’s silly to cry about it now.

(She still cries.  She throws her vase at the wall.  It shatters, and when she’s cleaning it up, she feels as if she’s picking up pieces of her heart.)

It takes a long while for her to even think about going.  Seeing Ella in a wedding dress has always been something's she wanted, but Ella's not getting married to  _her_.  But she remembers Ella in finishing school and remembers the way Ella had looked at her when they became friends.  She can't miss it.  It wouldn't be right.

Areida attends the wedding.  She has to go alone; the invitation hadn’t offered a plus one. Even if it had, Areida wouldn’t know who to bring. 

She’s nervous when she approaches the castle and then pleasantly surprised when she’s whisked away by the servants and then Ella’s in front of her.

She’s beautiful.  Her cheeks are painted rosy red and her makeup has obviously been done by Frell’s most talented.  But Areida would have thought she was beautiful without it.  After not seeing Ella for so long, it feels as if she can’t stop drinking in the sight of her.

Ella’s eyes water when she starts the conversation with apologies, and Areida can’t muster a word as Ella tells her about the curse.  About how Hattie had forbidden her from being Areida’s friend and Ella had left in defiance, unwilling to hurt the one girl who was nice to her in finishing school.  It’s why Ella got rid of her timer.  She hadn’t wanted her soulmate to deal with the consequences of the curse.

“But it’s gone now?” Areida asks quietly, and Ella’s smile is brilliant as she nods. 

She wants to ask if Ella will accept her soulmate now that the curse is gone.  But she doesn’t.  She swallows her words because Ella’s getting married to the prince of Frell today.

Ella’s holding her hands still, and they’re still talking about soulmates, so Areida isn’t surprised when Ella turns her hands around and sees her timer.  Ella gasps, and Areida waves away her apologies.  It’s not as if Areida had been hiding it.

“You’ve met them,” Ella says excitedly, her eyes shining.  “You met your soulmate!”

Areida nods, her throat tight.

“Who are they?”

“We’re not in love,” she says plainly, and Ella’s face falls.

She’s stopped from asking more when attendants rush in.  They paint Areida’s face with makeup and sweep her away from Ella.  It’s only a few hours until the wedding’s over and done with.  The streets of Frell are full of celebration for days, and Areida stays for a bit to enjoy the festivities while Char and Ella take their honeymoon.

A week later, the prince and Ella come to stay at the inn.  Ella throws her arms around Areida, and later at night, Ella sneaks away to her room.  “I’m sorry about your soulmate,” she says when Areida opens the door. Areida thinks that it’s only fitting that Ella would be the one to say that to her.

“You can find love without a timer,” she says.  Ella brightens and the conversation moves on to Ella’s honeymoon with Char.

Ella leaves in the morning. 

She’s not a princess.  She had refused and stuck with the title of Court Linguist and Cook’s Helper.  Areida can’t help but think it fits her.

They visit each other often.  They had promised to do so, after all.  Sometimes it’s with Char.  Sometimes it’s with Ella’s kids.  Sometimes Areida goes to visit the castle herself.  It never mattered who was with them or where they met, they always met as best friends and time did little to change that.

Char’s kind when Areida gets to talk to him.  She can’t begrudge him for falling in love with Ella.  After all, she had done the exact same.

Areida still loves Ella.  But it has faded to a dull ache; seeing Ella and Char together no longer felt as if a sword was stabbing her heart.

It still hurt, of course.  But only at times when she lets it.  She's getting stronger now that she sees the two of them together, but sometimes, at night, she wonders why it's Char and not her.  She's the one with the timer.  She's the one who is actually destined for Ella.

But she's able to push down her feelings if she tries.  It helps that even with the constant visits, there are still long periods in which she doesn't have to see either of them.  They're both ruling a kingdom and she's far enough away that they can't be there all the time.  

Distance becomes her only savior.  When Ella's gone, she doesn't write her.  She throws herself into her work and tries her best to forget Ella until the next visit.

She becomes the innkeeper.  Her parents retire and leave her in charge.  The inn has become busier than ever, what with Areida’s relationship with the royal family, but Areida manages it with ease.  Her time at finishing school helps her immensely.  Ella tries to help, too, but Areida shoos her away, knowing Char needs her back at the castle.

Areida tells Ella one afternoon.  The kids are with their grandmother.  Char is on a diplomatic trip that Ella couldn’t attend.

Ella stares at her with wide eyes and then bursts into tears.  They hold each other.  Ella apologizes for what feels like a million times, and Areida waves away her apologies each time. 

“It’s not your fault,” she says, “that Lucinda had cursed you.” 

Ella still sobs.

They fall asleep cuddled together.  When they wake, Ella hugs her once more.  They talk for hours now that Ella’s not crying anymore.

“If it weren’t for Char,” says Ella, fidgeting with the ring on her finger, “I would have fallen in love with you.”

It hurts, but Areida’s still glad Ella has said it.  It takes a weight off her shoulders.

“I know,” she responds and clasps Ella’s hand tight.  Ella doesn’t let go. 

They don’t talk for the rest of the morning.  They eat breakfast, and then Areida makes the trek home.  Ella sends her another tearful letter a week later, and Areida smiles. For the first time, she feels as if she’ll be okay.

She’s manning the front desk on a Wednesday morning when a familiar face walks in.  Julia from finishing school still looks mostly the same, all these years later, and she’s alone when she requests a room for the night.  They get dinner together.  Julia extends her stay for a few more nights as they catch up.

Julia’s wrists are bare.

A week later, Areida visits Mandy.  Mandy gives her biscuits and cookies and the item she asks for without expecting any repayment.  Mandy gets a hug for her troubles anyway.

When she gets back to her inn, Areida goes to her bedroom.  She gets ready for bed and sits in front of her dresser.  The special ink looks out of place next to her makeup.

Her hand shakes, but she steadies it as she reaches for the brush.

She crosses out the red numbers on her wrist.  It dries immediately into a crackly black.  It itches, almost as badly as it had when she first saw Ella.

It’s a good itch though, and Areida goes to bed smiling.

 


End file.
